Did you see it? Super full harvest moon, partial lunar eclipse lights up Houston skies
HOUSTON — The September full moon was a very special one! That's because it was not just a full moon, but it was also a supermoon.
The moon was officially full on Tuesday, Sept. 17 at 9:35 p.m. CST. However, the moon was expected to appear to be nearly full for about three nights, from Monday evening through Wednesday night.
This one is known as the "harvest moon" because its bright light would shine down late into the night while the early settlers worked on bringing in the September harvest. This would give farmers extra light to work deep into the night by moonlight.
Check out some pics of the eclipse and full moon taken by KHOU 11 viewers! Share your photos using the NEAR ME feature on the KHOU 11 app.
Super harvest moon and partial lunar eclipse seen through YOUR picturesThe Algonquin Indian tribes called this the "corn moon" because this was when they gathered their crops of corn, squash and wild rice. Some other European names for this moon include the "Fruit Moon" as many fruits ripen at this time and the "Barley Moon" from the harvesting of barley.
It's a supermoon because the moon will be near its closest point to the Earth in its elliptical orbit. This means the moon will appear a little bigger and brighter than a normal full moon. Cool!
And if that weren't enough, this was also a partial lunar eclipse. The eclipse peaked at 9:44 p.m. Tuesday with only the top 8% of the moon in shadow. This was not expected to be very dramatic, being such a small eclipse percentage.
